Today, I believe more than ever in art and it’s transformative potential for the individual, society and our world. A different approach to art than we have today is crucial for this. We are called upon to leave behind our passive attitude, namely that of consumption alone, not least in order to rediscover the great potential within us – the spark that art can ignite – and in the best case to reconnect with our divine and creative source. Any good work of art is known to be wiser than its creator. And this in turn depends on those who see, perceive and receive it. What does the artist think? A question that incenses artist Gerhard Richter so much that he doesn’t even want to think about answering it, as he says.

If we start to see and communicate art as what it is, a catalyst that is reflecting back to us and not reflecting something out of us, then we also come to understand that it all starts within us at the first place; then we can finally bring the basic truth that there is no aesthetics without ethics into a new state of being.

For me, there is no difference between my personal and professional endeavors: A spiritual approach underlies all my pursuits. This is what I desire to convey, manifest and make accessible, may it be through writing, teaching, curating or consulting.

These days, it’s more important than ever to form partnerships and cultivate a broad, diverse and constantly growing base of multifaceted relationships. In doing so, it’s a necessity to promote different ways of building bridges between worlds, to create visible lines of connection and to share the variety of entry points.

At all times, art – in its inherent purposelessness – has played a decisive role as a social mirror of its times. A society without art is unthinkable. Art institutions, galleries, art schools and universities – all places where art is exhibited or art and art studies are taught therefore bear a great responsibility. They function no less as opinion leaders and educational establishments and form what will, eventually, be the next generation leaders.

Therefore, aesthetics (from the ancient Greek root „perception“, „sensation“) is not only about the pleasure of works of art or their evaluation. The aesthetics of the real, how I like to call it, is like a journey: The travelers are the curious ones who are driven by a deep inner longing for the unknown, for the sphere of art in which the material and immaterial converge and which not only brings a different light into the world but also into themselves.

The linkage is that of rewriting conditioned modes of perception that have taught us to look for answers outside of ourselves instead of inside. All art is inherently about perceiving. The question is who and what.